In many video/audio systems, video/audio information is conveyed in information streams comprising frames of encoded audio information that are aligned with frames of video information, which means the sound content of the audio information that is encoded into a given audio frame is related to the picture content of a video frame that is either substantially coincident with the given audio frame or that leads or lags the given audio frame by some specified amount. Typically, the audio information is conveyed in an encoded form that has reduced information capacity requirements so that some desired number of channels of audio information, say between three and eight channels, can be conveyed in the available bandwidth.
These video/audio information streams are frequently subjected to a variety of editing and signal processing operations. A common editing operation cuts one or more streams of video/audio information into sections and joins or splices the ends of two sections to form a new information stream. Typically, the cuts are made at points that are aligned with the video information so that video synchronization is maintained in the new information stream. A simple editing paradigm is the process of cutting and splicing motion picture film. The two sections of material to be spliced may originate from different sources, e.g., different channels of information, or they may originate from the same source. In either case, the splice generally creates a discontinuity in the audio information that may or may not be perceptible.